「Soon, the Winter Festival arrived.」
The day before, Li Wei went out and saw people all over the city decorating the streets.
Even the Mage Tower was adorned with numerous decorations related to the Winter Festival.
On the morning of the 28th, Li Wei awoke to the sight of colorful banners fluttering outside.
After an hour and a half of meditation and cultivation, he washed up and headed out of the Mage Tower.
By eight in the morning, the Upper City District was already bustling with people rehearsing for Winter Festival performances.
On this day, even the Lower City District, typically dirty and chaotic, was surprisingly clean and tidy.
The residents of the Lower City District also rose early, eagerly looking forward to participating in the Winter Festival.
The Winter Festival was sponsored and organized by the various powerful factions of Maple City.
In addition to all sorts of performances, large amounts of food would be distributed, and all the city's citizens could take part.
The poorer families of Maple City looked forward to these two days as a chance to eat a few good meals.
As Li Wei walked down the street, curiously observing everything, he unexpectedly ran into an old acquaintance, Jimmy.
Jimmy was helping the Xinghuo Literature Society buy some urgently needed items.
When he saw Li Wei, he called out happily, "Mr. Li Wei, are you also here for the Winter Festival?"
Hearing Jimmy's voice, Li Wei turned to him and smiled. "Yeah, just walking around. I'm planning to write a Winter Festival side story for *Dragon Knight*."
Jimmy's face lit up with surprise and delight. "That's wonderful news!"
Li Wei glanced at the pile of things in Jimmy's arms and asked, "Does the Xinghuo Literature Society still have to work during the Winter Festival?"
Jimmy explained, "This year is special. The president plans to perform a *Dragon Knight* stage play during the festival to attract more attention to the novel. These are the materials we need for the performance."
Li Wei was a little surprised. 'My novel got an adaptation? And a stage play at that!'
He was quite happy about it. The better *Dragon Knight* sold, the more money he would earn, so he naturally had no objections.
Jimmy glanced at the time and said hurriedly, "Mr. Li Wei, I have to go. The president is waiting for me to bring these materials back."
Li Wei waved him off. "Alright, see you."
He continued his leisurely stroll, occasionally buying small snacks from roadside stalls.
When he came across a crowded area, he would stop to watch a performance for a while, cheering along with the crowd.
In the afternoon, he saw the Xinghuo Literature Society performing the *Dragon Knight* play in the square.
The story of the down-on-his-luck youth, Mo Lei, who obtains a fortuitous encounter and rises to power, was presented to the audience in a short play of just over twenty minutes.
When the performance ended, the audience erupted in thunderous applause, with the teenagers and young adults being especially ecstatic.
It was as if they themselves were the young protagonist, Mo Lei.
The Xinghuo Literature Society seized the opportunity to give away twenty individual copies of the *Dragon Knight* novel and told those who didn't get one that they could purchase it from the society's office—at a twenty percent discount during the Winter Festival!
The society also took the chance to market the entire first volume of the *Dragon Knight* novel to the wealthy, allowing them to read stories that wouldn't be published for another month.
The first volume contained the first twelve chapters of *Dragon Knight* and was priced at 120 Copper Coins per copy.
Many die-hard fans who had already bought the previous eight installments shelled out a hefty sum, desperate to see what happened next.
The Xinghuo Literature Society made a killing during this Winter Festival.
Li Wei, of course, couldn't be happier.
He could already sense that his next month's royalties would be astonishingly high.
'The head of the Xinghuo Literature Society must be the Ma Huateng of this Magic World, coming up with a trick like paying to read ahead,' Li Wei marveled.
The two bustling days of the Winter Festival passed, but the people were still immersed in the celebratory atmosphere of the grand occasion.
On November 30th, Li Wei followed the others from the Mage Tower to the top of Maple City's wall.
He stood among the crowd, wearing a thick, cotton-padded jacket.
The cold wind howled and swirled along the wall. It was bitterly cold at such a height.
Gu Ze stood in the first row of the Mage Tower's contingent. The first two rows were entirely composed of Apprentice Mages, about fifteen or sixteen of them in total.
The Master Mages certainly weren't going to stand out here in the freezing wind.
Surrounding them were other Extraordinary Professionals—Warriors, Divine Shooters, Knights, Assassins, Fighters, and more. They far outnumbered the group from the Mage Tower, forming a massive, sprawling crowd of two to three hundred people.
Further away, standing by the parapet, were the city guards of Maple City. They were merely trained ordinary soldiers who had not mastered any Extraordinary Power.
WHOOSH!
A cold wind howled from outside the city walls as a blizzard swept toward them.
"Eeeeeeeeeee..."
A strange, high-pitched wail carried on the wind, as if something was riding the blizzard toward them.
The sound grew louder, and the things within the blizzard drew closer to the wall.
Finally, Li Wei could see head-sized white balls appearing in the snowstorm.
Hundreds, thousands of Snow Elves descended from the storm, attempting to breach Maple City.
At last, the Mages that Li Wei had been so eager to see appeared.
A Mage wearing a thin Magic Robe appeared on the wall alongside the City Lord.
The Mage gently tapped the wall with his Magic Staff. A Magic Radiance flared to life as the Array was activated.
The city wall withstood the blizzard and blocked the Snow Elves trying to charge into the city, causing large numbers of them to fall into the snow outside Maple City.
A Warrior in the crowd shouted, "Alright! Now it's our turn!"
The melee-focused Extraordinary Professionals leaped down from the wall, which was over ten meters high, and charged toward the Snow Elves with weapons swinging.
The ranged Extraordinary Professionals also began to show their skills, taking out Snow Elves from their positions on the wall.
Gu Ze and the other Apprentice Mages walked to the edge of the wall. Barehanded or with staves, they began Casting Magic, attacking the Snow Elves below.
Li Wei saw Gu Ze wave his Magic Staff, and three Ice Arrows materialized before him, shooting out to eliminate three Snow Elves in one go.
He looked down below the wall and saw that the Snow Elves weren't particularly difficult to deal with.
Most Extraordinary Professions could easily kill a Snow Elf, but the creature's cold would freeze their weapons. After killing three or four of them, they had to find a way to clear the ice, or their weapons would become unusable.
Some used Fighting Spirit to shatter the ice; others simply smashed their weapons against rocks to break it off.
Gu Ze glanced at Li Wei, who had walked up beside him. He continued Casting as he said, "Snow Elves are Tier Zero Demons. They're dangerous for ordinary people, but for Extraordinary Professionals, they aren't hard to handle."
Just as he finished speaking, Li Wei saw a Warrior get touched by a lantern-sized Snow Elf.
In an instant, the Warrior's arm was frozen solid.
"Ah! Help me!"
The Warrior frantically cried for help.
Gu Ze raised a hand, and an Ice Arrow shot out, killing the Snow Elf beside the Warrior and saving his life.
Once rescued, the Warrior quickly thanked Gu Ze, then fled back into the city with a look of terror on his face.
Gu Ze explained, "That was a Greater Snow Elf, a Tier One Low Level Demon. It can be killed easily with Tier Zero Magic."
Li Wei showed a look of understanding.
Gu Ze didn't know that Li Wei could already cast Magic, so he didn't ask him to help kill the Snow Elves, merely letting him observe from the side.
Five days had passed since his first time Casting, and with diligent practice, Li Wei now had a seventy percent chance of success without using Calming Incense.
Compared to five days ago, his Mana had also improved, and he could now cast four spells.
He didn't rush to act. First, he would observe the battlefield and look for the right opportunity.